Legend of the galatic heroes review

A good point to start a ginga eiyuu densetsu (named as logh from now for brevity sake) review is the questioning on why the lives of powerful people are just so fascinating? Where does this amazing interest comes from in seeing generals, emperors, dictators, enacting strings of power, intrigue, tragedy. In following the lives and death of individual with such ambition, chosen to change the destiny and history of people, societies, worlds. Such allure comes from way more than the facts being actually being shown, Rubinsky discussing his plans becomes way more than a character we know barely nothing about, explaining his ambitions, and Job Truniht announcing a single vote, becomes the most epic thing ever. In my opinion this sentiment is at the heart of the appeal in series such as game of thrones, house of cards, heck half of code geass popularity can be traced to how it taps into the same aspect. One of actually feeling like what we are experiencing is some extensive mind game, truly clever battle between those in power. You can actually slate it everywhere, by doing so with a minimal quality, your show can put up an air of sophistication, self-importance. Logh is probably the series that taps the most into said appeal, take the examples I said above, Rubisnky speech means very little in terms of his relevance as a character, but by making it all connect to a web, a system of power surrounding several major players, it gains a whole new importance. It ingeniously connects and gives meaning to the mundane, making it all part of a big machine, a gigantic game for dominance between truly powerful individuals. Nevertheless, it never ends up feeling like a ruse, simply an air of pretension, because of having the study of power and its implications takes central stage in this narrative, and the political intrigue being spectacularly well handled. In this analysis I will try to look to several key aspects of this show, in trying to give some insight to its flaws and merits. Comparisons to its older (and superior) version in the 1988 ovas will not be absent, but will not be the focus of the text. As always (sadly, apparently I still have to do this) there will be no major spoilers in the review (happy now?).



(Ok just seeing more of this guy, is a good enough reason why there should be a new LOGH anime)


At the core LOGH is the story of the ascension to prominence of two young individuals, Yang and Reinhard. Yang is particular is really hard to define when looking to some of his attributes. Because of being marked by contrasting characteristics, a pacifist that acts as the brightest and most successful admiral in the history of the free planets alliance. An idealist, always thinking and talking of the world as it should be, instead of how it is, but always keeps his actions, to a degree of enviable practicality. A historian at heart, with the eyes firmly at the past, but usually against his will is forced to create and become a part of history, in deciding the key events that change the fate of nations. The freedom of thinking and acid critic he enacts, being directly against the strict dogmatism and value of authority, which makes the organization he is in, the army, in pretty all its occurrences. A humble man always doubting his own judgement and the paths he chooses, while getting forced to make the most important decisions imaginable. Which give a lot of understanding to his passive aggressive nature, that some find off-putting. It comes from a place of never getting your wishes achieved or listened to, and having your own existence to be about following other people's dreams and illusions. He in effect knows the problems and defects in society better than everyone, but finds himself unable and unwilling to do something about it. As Yang does not believe he has the right to do so. Onto him, you can find the maximum ideals of democracy represented. No matter how Yang personally can disagree, find an order stupid or preposterous, they come off as absolute. Because they come from the system, are issued by the elected representatives of the people, the only ones capable of exerting sovereignty through the popular vote, there is no room for not obeying here. One of the more general conceits of democracy is to exert control not only on the ends, the objective society’s wants, but on the means, the way to get there. A single instance illustrates this perfectly and is the apotheoses of what the character stands for (spoilers for the freaking OVA). When faced with a golden opportunity, a way to destroy the leader of the galactic empire, in effect saving the free planet alliance, the ultimate goal anyone on the country could advocate for, he does not act. Instead he obeys an order of cease fire, which would most certainly doom the country, because regardless of how justified the ends may be, they are only as righteous as their means. The correct ways and means for acting, make the correct goals in a democratic society, and Yang express the full extension of that, with a single decision. A general humanism also marks the character, human lives are never tools to be played with, used to achieve superiority or tactical advantages. Instead he makes them the goal, saving and ensuring the lives of as many people he can, is the modus operandi and tactic for Yang. Satisfaction of the individual can be traced as main ideological objective for most modern democracy, and for putting those in the forefront it helps to drives this point, something that paradoxically his government completely forgot, amidst its nationalistic ideals.



(Could not make a logh review without showing Yang drinking tea, this is the absolute representation of the show)

As a contrasting figure (not as good though) we have Reinhard. Looking at his worries with efficiency and results gives great insight into the character. Unlike Yang, those are the major things he cares about, his conflict with the nobles does not come from a moral rejection from the awful things they enact, since he is willing to go to the same lengths, but from how they lack the capacity to rule, a complete inefficiency in doing so. Instead of worrying with methods the results are absolute here. His justification to strive for power, to think as righteous in ruling over others, is a believed conceit of being actually superior, he has the best talent and knowledge, can bring results no one else can. Reinhard is entitled to issue orders, to become a supreme ruler of the galaxy, because of being in effect the best man. Yes, he is this kind of conceited, egotistical brat. Where to someone else with more abilities to appear, he would be right to challenge and attempt to rule as well. His ideology is born from an idea of putting the capacity to decide, and actually solving the issues as main goals, the justification of a government. Despite bizarrely never taking such ideas to its logical conclusion, since those are encapsulated by his subordinate, Oberstein. There are hints of romanticism, a valorization of a fair fight and some general ethical ideals (as hypocritical as they come), which never allows him to do so. The relation with his father also adds a lot , a man that achieved nothing in life, and lived in terms of lineage and memories of dead ancestors, exactely the ideals Reinhard found disguting, and stood the entire live trying to denie. Both the in history parallel with the Rudolf dictatorship and the historical parallel with the Nazi regime are also pertinent here. In either, you can see the same worries with efficiency, the debates and democratic system, the individual liberties were silenced, to allow for greater decidability. In the name of efficiency and nebulous goals, any form of control of a government acts were dropped, which gave birth to a catastrophe that killed millions. They give a certain air of terror to young Reinhard’s ascension, since the audience is never sure he will not fall to the same pitfalls, become a similar monster in another display of history ever repeating cycle.



(I have finally became a truly sophisticated individual after wathcing this)


To be fair, the focus on powerful people also makes for what I believe is LOGH greatest flaw. In displaying a fascination with history, it becomes very clear what kind of history is attempted to be portrayed here, the one focused on individuals, great names and figures, that eclipse everything else and mold its run. This universe seems to be inhabited, by barely anyone else but those in power. How many foot soldiers, the unknowns, with names forgotten by time, that actually fight and act in wars did we follow on this narrative? Very little and their appearances barely have an impact, or much relevance only being tools to represent the horrors of war (cutting 90% of Poplan and his group scenes and relevance is like the dumbest creative decision they could take). With the only moment you could argue otherwise is the Schenkopp sequence on Iserlohn (isn`t he also a really high level commander though?). This leads to a weirdly impersonal way of combat, where the things that matter are the commander plans (those little graphics of fleets are more relevant than any foot soldier), rather than the reality of the people amidst the battle. This is really far from the ideal, not allowing to get a full grasp of what is happening, the full magnitude of the massacres displayed before our eyes. The maximum you can get of that, is brief glimpse of unknowns getting tricked and killed in a flash, so hooray for giving a dawn.


Though it could be argued, it makes up for everything I said above, with the sheer scope of what is being attempted. The scale of the developing narrative is something very rarely reproduced in fiction, most important plot beats give this sense of grandness something really epic happening. Most twists and turns matter a lot, seem to change and mold the mere fabric of this universe, its long standing history. The takeover of the greatest fortress and the largest invasion force ever seen, being great examples of that, giving the sense we can merely grasp the magnitude of what is occurring. Despite this season still presenting a really straightforward, and simple republican x empire conflict. Most of the major players, which will make for a way more multifaceted, complex struggle were merely introduced like Oberstein, Trunhilt, Reuenthal, the nobles, Rubinky. Which is when LOGH actually comes to shine, with lots of interesting well developed character, each moving their own political and personal agendas, making for a way more engaging and developed conflict. Nevertheless, the seeds of it all can be traced here, and this quality of the narrative can be perceived really early on (not that the animation does much to capitalize on this, but whatever).



(Kind of love how he seems ready to open someone's head with an axe at a moments notice in this picture)


There is also a long standing issue I have with the way it presents some antagonistic characters (calling for villains in this narrative I kind of hard). The show has kind of an attitude of trying really hard with those, to the point they are fleshed out, bring meaningful and well developed ideological and personal conflicts, or not all with some that have absolutely nothing going for them. The series is infamous for the stupidity of some of its cast and for good reasons. The sheer idiocy they manage to achieve is kind of hard to describe. An apt comparison would be to say they are a lot like the antagonist in the famous anime series Akame Ga Kill, shallow, idiotic mass murders. You can see the type whenever there is an admiral which usually hits his subordinates a lot, or is really eager to meaningless die by sacrificing his entire fleet for a warrior’s pride or bullshit like that. They have this really exaggerated and hard to take serious personality, and make the dumbest decisions possible in the face of battle. Having these over the top personalities would be not of an issue in of itself, the problem is they really lack variety in their madness, usually displaying a really boring monotone mindset and actions. Like the most different of those is the proclaimed rival of Yang, and only because of hiding his own stupidity in a lot of empty rhetoric. And they also never create, are the source for interesting conflict, or really add anything of value to the overall narrative. They represent worthless obstacles, which our protagonists surpass with ease, and to show how fucking awesome they are supposed to be. It’s like having everybody to say this is not enough already, we have to nerf everybody else for them to look even better.


On a better note, the pacing which was the long standing fear of the franchise fans was not much of an issue here. It is a bit more rushed than the older version, but tells mostly the same events just fine. That is until the last episode, which finds to be a good idea to rush as fuck some key narrative elements. What is supposed to be happening is not really easy to understand, much less to engage and feel the impact of certain events. I swear, I would not be bringing this up as a flaw, if it was for the sake of amounting to a satisfying end note for some narrative threads. Which is completely not the case, the story stops in the middle of the conflict, leaving us in one of the more insulting cliffhangers endings (or as I like to call them, fuck you finales) I have ever seen. So well done guys, you almost made it, but fucked in the last possible moment.


Being frank, I was also really not a fan of the character designs, pretty noticeably the ones that changed drastically from the old OVA. They took one of the titles with more varied and iconic character designs in the medium (like frankly there no two individuals with the same hair, from the hundreds in the Ova’s cast) and turned the main ones into generic bishounens. A weird case where you can find the importance of the character being inversely proportional to how generic they are designed.

(Someone should be shot, for what they did with fucking Reuenthal's character)

A way larger problem comes with the way the empire is represented in this series. A huge part of the appeal of the older series, was how the conflict was rather ambiguous, with no clear good and bad guys (in some instances). This quality is lost when you have such a great focus on the alliance side though. It is kind of hard to argue the imperial side is not being represented as a villain in this particular narrative. The aesthetical way they presented pretty much says so, they enact morally reprehensible acts, which barely anyone in the free planets alliance does. And not much happens on their side of thigs, sure Reinhard and Kircheis get some development and are represented in a more sympathetic light, but this makes them closer to understandable complex villains than anything else. Not sure how to fix this though, most of the important events in this part of the novel and 1988 OVA are happening in the alliance’s side, to the point if they stopped at this point, they would have the same issue. So here is just a wish that they fix this on later seasons, movies, getting to the point where the galactic empire is more meaningfully fleshed and becomes way more than the adversary, because so far that is not really the case.



(This really is some akame ga kill level of conflict and resolution, I am not kidding)


An utmost understated quality LOGH always had is how it always have known how to bring out the fun. In such a serious looking narrative, encompassing a war epic with lots of mature themes, this may come as a surprise to some (there are no characters staring blankly for hours while no dialogue happens, making for a boring pseudo contemplative tone here). This narrative contains elements of pulpy ridiculous violence, when we have soldiers actually fighting hand to hand with hammers, axes and the sorts, and this being the decisive factor in space warfare (can you think of something more ridiculously awesome than that?). There are also the really cheesy melodramatic speeches, and character deaths culminating on those over the top displays of their lives and paths, the really hammy exaggerated villains (okay those were always lame). These are funny additions to the narrative and help to showcase how you are actually allowed to have fun, and portray some ridiculous shit in such a serious narrative. Which comes off as a shame, because those were mostly absent in the remakes narrative so far.



(Please give me more of these guys, goddawnit)


So does this new anime deserve a ludicrous title of savior of anime, because of its amazing quality? Hell no. Is it a worthy successor to the original 1988 OVA? Not quite. However, it is a thematically interesting experiment, with (emphasis on some) great characters, and elements that are hard to find elsewhere. I am definitely interested to see how they can further develop this in movies, and in what our galactic heroes will do next. If you have an interest in history though, just do yourself a favor and watch it, the fascination this series has with this topic is impalpable, and can be seen though several parallels, references and just the general story.

(A show you should be watching instead of the one I am reviewing)

Love in Umino Chika's works

Okay let me take a crack at love, a universal topic. Seen in lyrics, poems, the bible, even on the plans of a presidential candidate to save a country (Cabo Daciolo), this thing is unescapable. A fire that burns without being seen, a wise man’s doom and a fool’s hope and salvation. Something that is too ideal for an idealist to understand, and too real for a realist to see. Everybody has something to say about this question, and this analysis will be about Umino’s Chika take on the topic, me extrapolating conclusions, from the several ways such a broad ideal is portrayed through her manga, 3-gatsu no lion and Honey and Clove (Spica does not matter, really, in her body of work, and her spin offs were never translated so fuck me, I have not read those), and to asseverate the several meanings it takes.



(the way Umino's draws herself in her manga)


Starting with the easy part by introducing, what this analysis will not be about. Sadly, the feeling has absolutely nothing of Eros (will be using a lot the Greek denominations for love, so it is good to be at least familiar with its meanings) sexual desire and eroticism are pretty much a foreign object to any discussion regarding passion in these manga. Maybe one of the more defining aspects about Umino’s writing, is the complete lack of sexual intercourse (nobody fucks). We follow throughout her narratives, protagonists that are usually on the 18-24-year-old range, however they act as the timidest teenagers when dealing with sex, that seems to be the last thing in their minds. In spite of this, the expressions of this act, as rare as they may be, are also very telling. On honey and Clove, it occurs on a pivotal point in the development of the relation between Rika and Mayama (which for the extreme acts being portrayed is probably the best way to drive the importance of such interactions anyway), when both spend their first night together. Rika, a woman that lost her husband in an accident inflicted by her, losing the only person that truly mattered in the world, turns for Mayama, the young men that platonically loves her, and decides to hurt him. Exploiting the awareness of his feelings, agrees to sleep with him, just to disappears before dawn, wanting to leave him abandoned, broken, feeling the coldest rejection, another could possibly take. Such an act is far from senseless, it is done in order to strength a sentiment of sorrow, a general self-deprecation and hatred, a sense of melancholia and regret with the act of being alive itself. Those bringing a determination to abandon existence, finally exiting this world, that could have nothing more to offer her, whenever her husband work come to a completion (ensuring a suicide was actually her goal here). Confirming such, by destroying the only person that refused to abandon, despite the painful, melancholic existence. Note the lack of any romance in the enactment of this. There is also the implied sexual abuse between Rei and Kyouko, which is basically a power play, a demonstration of predominance, having a revenge regarding the way her father chooses Rei, instead of his actual children. That consists only of a way of instilling hatred, and to showcase how dysfunctional they are as a family unit.



(Answering like this to someone trying to hurt you deeply is just so awesome)


Finding a better picture of this topics, consists of studying one of the more interesting love “triangles” in fiction, the pair Morita, Takemoto and Hagu. Morita’s style of passion is very close to his own self-satisfaction, being based around egotistical needs, where feeling well is the most important factor, which is in one of the more criticized sentiments found in the manga. Therefore, Morita our protagonist has to follows such ideas to a tea, being a narcissistic man children (he is pretty similar to someone I know, actually), always acting according to his whims, while barely acknowledging the desire and situations of those around him. Nevertheless, having an arc that mostly revolves around these flaws, and concepts. Throughout the series, he learns and finds himself with great affection for Hagu, while she also corresponds, with a platonic infatuation. The sentiment is really particular in this case, though, in the sense it is completely twisted to self-gain. It is love that is as far away as possible, to be the most important aspect, one that happens to be a play thing, a ruse to use and discard whenever you find it necessary. A sentiment so devoid of any attention and care for others, where you can ask someone to abandon everything, to follow your desire for self-destruction, then ruin their life, and the act of accepting such a ludicrous purpose becomes an obligation. Having this abstract idea, to work as self-justification and indulgence, in a process to instrumentalize and completely dehumanize people. A relationship based on such feelings could never work, and rightfully so it doesn’t, as both come to separate ways in the end of the series, finding their mutual affection never met.



(Just love seeing these kids, in their pointless paths to adulthood)


In stark contrast with what I laid out above, we see Takemoto. Onto the character, you can find a very direct representation of philia, found in kindness and mutual appreciation, where going for the happiness of the beloved is essential. A sentiment found in the backward ways, the character goes in order to fulfill Hagu’s wishes, always worrying how she is feeling, what could he do for her, in order for both achieve joy, filled with empathy, so to speak. There is this sense of wonderment in his journey, of getting to know, seeing more aspects, facets, flaws, anxiety, just in general drawing in closer and getting to know the beloved, becomes a pleasure and a goal in of itself. There is no attempt to extinguish selfish interests on this form of love, Takemoto because of his low self-stem, has an almost pathological desire for altruism, he can only stop feeling worthless, and a generalized self-deprecation, when doing something for others, which he does, at any cost even. There is also a desire to run away from loneness and emptiness in the heart of the character (cause by a complete lack of direction, and capacity to make any choice for the future), that is usually channeled towards this relationship. Perhaps you could draw those feelings back to deeply rooted anxiety and worries, him searching the world and others, to run away from the more internalized painful truths in his mind. However, there is just so much merit, on the tale of this scary anxious kid, lost and with no sense of purpose for his existence, but still struggling to create connections, doing the best for others, so kind that the concept of hurting anyone is physically painful for him, and following peoples wills, as almost a mandate. I certainly found it adorable.



(The never ending desire to put my fingers around his neck)


This is the point where I add, there is actually a forth wheel, on this supposed love triangle from Honey and Clove. In the finale, the will them won’s them ends, with her abandoning the romantic interests, and going on a self-recovering journey, with her 30-year-old cousin, a controversial ending for many. When reading an Umino Chika manga, it is good to have an open mind, since the difference between romantic love, and familiar one, is always very fluid. Familiar love has nothing of Storge, meaning it does not come from a sense of natural obligation, there being lots of examples of such relations being completely deprived of the sentiment, in 3-gatsu no lion. Furthermore, Hagu and Shuuji’s relation, could only be described as one of complete devotion, there are literally no limits to where this man can go for Hagu, the manga ends with him literally quitting his job, giving up any savings, and going on a massive years long process, just to help her injured hands. Notice how this does not depend or is drawn from any qualities on the loved object, but on its intrinsic nature, she could treat Shuuji like shit and he would still love her. It is unconditional love, through and throughout, based on a sort of morbid obsession. Being together all throughout their lives, made them closer, knowing everything there could be about each other, allowing them to share a relationship, which could never be contested by Morita with his self-centeredness, or Takemoto with his personal insecurities. Those 3 types of affection are for me a template, every kind of love found in a Umino Chika work, more or less fits one of those.


There is a very telling discussion on 3-gatsu, on which the author displays what I believe to be some of her main ideas on the topic. On it, Akari is questioned about Rei’s growing feelings for Hina, and the chance of those blossoming into romance, with her literal response being of this as an impossibility. Each of them already shared a deeper bond, a filial love, which was way stronger, satisfactory and everlasting than any form of platonic romance or passion. To regress from this status on their relationship, would in fact be a downgrade. Something that makes a lot of sense in the context of 3-gatsu no lion, a story about our protagonist surpassing and learning to deal better with depression, trauma and personal anxiety, by finally forming the core family, he could only dream through most of his life.


So with that out of the way, I can finally get into what I consider my favorite couple in fiction (Shevek x Takver is up there though). The actual relation between Rei and Hina, is something I can only describe as a magical, unbelievable entity. They just complement each other so perfectly, their interactions always allowing and furthering growth, providing something the other deeply needs. On Rei’s side, we have this emotionally traumatized and repressed kid, always keeping a façade for others, finally acquiring better emotional intelligence, realizing that dealing with your emotions, trying to talk to people make them understand, face such issues head on, is always better than killing yourself internally by suppressing and wallowing toxic ideas in your mind. On what consist of the most poignant scene of the start of the show, where Rei is forced to confront her openness about the feelings of loss Hina has, as a result of the losing her mother, something he knows all too well. It also highlights another troubling aspect of personality, the tendency to internalize everything, create value based on how people perceive you (or better to say your own distorted vision of such perception). A process of self-evaluation only based on others opinions, where every criticism becomes something to be taken at face value, loneness and isolation are just natural, because if people perceive you as someone to be isolated, then you certainly deserved it. These ideals begin to break for Rei, when he sees Hina going through some of the same hardships. When receiving bullying by the rest her class, she refuses to internalizes any of the mean things they did or said her. Being ignored by people did not make her a horrible person, that deserved to be left alone. All she did was to stand for a friend, who was in pain and desperately needed help, company, a friend, and nothing the world said or did, could shake her certainty of being right. That the act of helping, being kind was pointless or wrong, despite how scared one may be, of some of its consequences. The mere idea of someone can actually taking such a stance, ensure their own merit, and worth in spite of a group’s perception and judgement, is just revolutionary for Rei, whom was never about to develop such conscious, because of a painful awareness of flaws, issues, and mistakes, that formed a monstrously distorted vision of self. Kyouko coming to his side and actually saying the most malicious hateful things, is a fact Rei actually takes some morbid pleasure in hearing, and assuring how much of a horrible person he actually is. Hina takes this, and shows there is a new way to deal with all of that, removing a truly dangerous certainty, once held.



(Like even more seeing these two though)


The act also takes an entire new meaning when seen through these specific circumstances. Rei was also someone that faced social ostracism, through his life never managing to create bonds with anyone in school, his only answer to the abuse he received from others, was to try to disappear, and never be noticed by them. In Hina, he finds something needed throughout all of life, someone which would stand for the socially isolated kid, that would not leave its side even when facing pressure from a class. Furthermore, she even affirmed the kid was not wrong for not fitting in, but the toxic group dynamic was the subject to blame. Rei feels Hina is there, refusing to abandon, always there by his side, an impossible beautiful and important symbol of goodness and kindness, that gives purpose for the hellish years of lonely school live. Sharing such poignant moments and ideals, gives Rei’s life, create a purpose for it and a new goal, in helping the loved one, while also allowing for a renewed desire and capacity for self-improvement.





Oddly enough, the complementary aspects of the relation do go both ways. Hina does gain greatly in terms of security, by having this relentless, always stable and trustworthy individual by her side. Someone that, although almost incapable of expressing himself in words, is always trying meddling, making plans and taking whenever action necessary. Being there, when the whole word starts falling down, because of her abusive father coming back. In teaching that there was no reason to get frozen by a few happy memories of the past, and reminding her what is the ideal of love, and relationship they strive for and hope to maintain. One that can be found in what the people of this house, the Kawamoto’s and Rei share, not on the cold indifference of this stranger. That can be found on people that wish for the best of the family, and would do anything to assure each other happiness, no questions asked.





You know, if you had payed close attention there is a strong parallel between the absolute fraternal love some character present, and the criticized egotistical love of Morita. You could see one as an even more extreme reversion, or its opposite. The questionable aspects of such unconditional fixation, despite a few positive examples are not above criticism. In this side of the field of parental love, we find the most hateful character Umino ever written (really everyone else is just so adorable) Seijirou, the father of the Kawamoto sisters. Onto his character you can find all the loveable characteristics of a compulsive liar, that says whatever suits him, and manipulate every situation to his binding, a vocal abuser of wife and children, that loves to go on tirades on how they are to blame for everything wrong in life. Someone that can leave a family just for being actually bored and wanting something new. But the sad part of this, is her wife still had that maniac obsession, an unconditional affection for such man, defending him despite many horrible actions. Wasting her life, for the return of the kind man she once knew, and fall in love with. This sickening and self-destructive aspect of devotion, is the authors criticism to those displays of love. As consequence of such events, there is a strange of melancholy, of a fundamentally broken household under the cheerfulness of the Kawamotos, the older sister being so emotional traumatized she becomes horrified of the act of following in love. Passion became such a monstrous thing, that can only lead someone to support abuse, ending up as an emotional wreck, completely ruining any happy memories connected to this aspect of life. And really, who can blame her, when the single experience Akari had with such, ended up in such a way, hurting the mother she loved the most?





There is this tendency if fiction to give a greater attention to declarations of love, starts of relationships, than the relations themselves, which is definitely followed here. Most main characters’ deal with this fear at some point, a general dread of exposing yourself, finally showing your innermost and more personal feelings, let the beloved one see what is there. Your pathetic self, which you believe has nothing to offer at its most fragile moment. Takemoto prefers to cross the entirety Japan with his bicycle, to run to the ends of the land, because facing such sentiments, Hagu, and his pointless search for purpose, was actually way more terrifying. Morita is only drawn to a point he can come close to indirectly confess any of that, in a situation where he has lost everything, and can only think of the worst thing to hurt both. Therefore, such moments are in fact periods of immense growth and change, where you can find the catharsis for the characters’ personal journeys, Rei’s declaration of marriage for Hina, or Mayama crying over how scared he is, because of how personal were the worlds out of his mouths. These paths of affection are deeply tied to personal growth and maturity, throughout both narratives, and with the even grander aspect of seeking purpose in life.


Because meaning is an integral part of an individual life’s, and the search for one in a never fulfilled loved, is a central question for some characters. Yamada and Takemoto, never met their objects of desire, the romantic relationship they desired, being born, growing, dyeing and only ever existing in their own minds. Far from denying any merit of such relations, those are reaffirmed as valuable, in going after their wishes, each learned so much, created relations, met new people and formed memories, which cannot be easily forgotten. Despite how aimless the whole thing may seem, and the entire road may as well have led to nowhere, there is this sense of wonderment in embarking on it, meeting all these new places and growing a lot in the process. Looking back Takemoto fells nothing but gratitude, for coming to know such a people, for falling in love, and having all this time with her. To say it is about the journey not the destination is an understatement, and surely these characters found their ever elusive purpose in such endeavors.


Seeing the narratives of Umino Chika as stories about people dealing with stagnation in life, a general inability to move forward and deal with their past, would be quite accurate. Most romantic relations have this static feature, we never actually get to see a personal changing their love inclination (with Rika and Yamada the change is closer to a subtle possibility than anything else). Furthermore, the will them, won’t them scenarios Honey and Clove create go nowhere. Which in a work of the predominance of the past over the present, that is trying to give this strong sickening sense of nostalgia and decay, focusing on the importance of memories, and a day to day life that seems to never change is essential. Life is perceiving as moronic, never changing for these characters, the entire iconography revolves about its cyclical nature, this can be seen on the oppressive Ferris wheels, the gentle four leaf lover, the attention to circles in a bicycle. However, love has such a transformative nature, it is what leads Rei out of his isolationist instance, to try and create more meaningful interactions with people. Having someone she genuinely cared, and worked towards motivates Kyouko in her little redemption arc. Far from something in service of decay, it stands as an object of change that leads to a general self-betterment , creating some of the better emotions and interactions, on the paths of the humans that dare to attempt it.


Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the character’s inability to explain anything though. They seem too clueless to completely understand any such feelings. Ask any of them, when they fall in love, what it about the person you appreciate so much, why would you go that far from her. They simply have no answer, no rational meaning or interpretation, or form to truly get any of it. As something they cannot rationally understand, they also act pretty irrationally about, always worrying, wasting time, energy, refusing to let go when being terminally rejected. But maybe those messy confusing parts are what such relations worth it, and believable in the end


As bright and idealistically as this discourse may be, setting up a bound is important. Getting to the realization love isn’t everything, nor it is supposed to be. When it appears as only a settle back, something stopping you of doing what you really need and wants to, then of course it needs to be discarded. Shimada and Hagu went through this route, having to leave people they cared deeply about. In shimada’s case it was a matter of personal ambition, finding love was not the most important to him, the frustrating and endless shogi life, he dreamed of, was, so he had to meet such a path with the determination to leave everything. For Hagu what mattered the most was achieving an actual dream, a simple vision of ultimate almost divine artistic expression. Her existence was only a mean to get to that, and she was ready to put everything away, in order to reach those desires. Both willfully made a choice, found a different way and goal in life, and found variable degrees of satisfaction in doing such. Despite the incoherent mess, I hope you have taken something out of what I wrote. You can find countless people talking about love, people describing it, giving their little worthless opinions on the subject. The number of those with something relevant to say, is way smaller though. But when an artist finally appears, and can portray a love that talks not only of the universal feeling, but seems to show the specific brand of passion you believe, that seems almost specifically made, you can find no equal anywhere, containing a particular feeling or representation felt or believes to still do. Then, that is something to take notice of. To elicit such special emotion and intensity in a melodrama (because let’s face it, this is what all her stories actually are), giving such warm fuzzy feels, to the point you feel the passion, the characters are displaying, even when the people involved cannot even put those in words. If you could not get by now, I do love her, and those works of fiction too.

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(Please do try to give her works a chance, it would make sad young men really happy)

Amazing manga endings: Billy bat

You know, I have a pretty long gripe with the way people talk of acclaimed author Naoki Urasawa. His manga stand, finding no equal in the medium in terms of thematic and character depth, but there is this everlasting notion of him writing only bad endings, that pisses me off, to no end. The intent of this text is to present the development of ideas and narrative on the work, Billy Bat, and to showcase how that culminates, in my favorite finale in all of media.

The first thing that should be made clear when discussing this manga, is to clarify the narrative sequence, that is being used. We are talking about a work that occurs , from the beginnings of humankind existence(or at least of us as a self conscious entity), going as far as reimagining of mankind dystopic future and extinction (sort of), which follows dozens of different characters in several historical periods, being complicate to even properly point who is our main character supposed to be. Sure, I could be lazy and structure the story about a certain concept, as it could be argued, this is Billy Bat’s narrative, everything  can be traced to this concept in a way, his identity and nature sometimes taking central focus as an ongoing mystery. In order to counter this conceit, I will go about this in a roundabout way, but I hope to have explained why this is not the case by the end.

Perhaps the aspect that impress me the most In Billy Bat, is that no matter the time being presented, the Jesus Crist era, the warring states in the 19th century in Japan, the 60’s and 80’s in the United States. All of them have in common, something, a great focus on symbols, universal ideals, that move and motivate most of the characters being presented. Be it the search for God, in the ancient Israel, wishes of conquering the world and fighting with honor in the 19th century Japan, the conflicts between capitalism and communism and the search for truth in the post world war 2 Japan. The extreme variety of cultural encompassing movements take central stage inside characters struggles, showing how they motivate and control individuals. How said ideals evolve and change with time is also really important here, sometimes this is shown more directly when we see the same characters or older generations of the same family, how they change in completely different time periods, Kevin Goodman's experience with racism is completely unlike that of his parents, or how the Momochi clan, worries and attitude changes completely in a different time and culture. And sometimes more indirectly by simply contrasting several periods being presented, the two wars of the manga that will be talked about in depth below, being great examples. This is the single biggest purpose of the style of narrative being played here, with gigantic stretches of time portrayed and timeskips, that allows for the manga to have a great variety of historical periods being presented, all of them being the backbone, of its thematic exploration.

(Fiction Judas was not so great thought)

While also being a brilliant premise for tapping into one of Urasawa greatest strengths as a writer, his ability at making period pieces, using moments in history as not only as a backdrop for his histories , but integrating the biggest anxiety, conflicts and problems of the period, and blending those perfectly onto the history and characters he writes. Said strong aspect takes a bigger purpose here, where their own inclusion adds layers to the overall theme, of exploring the evolution of ideas in mankind’s history, the show is using. Managing to show those grandiose metanaratives, these lofty ideals that try to explain the society in simple terms and dichotomies, and showcase them in intimate personal emotionally charged ways, through poignantly character action. No matter how heady with its themes his works may get, he never forgets to have a human emotional core underneath the whole thing, blending effortlessly the emotional catharsis and intellectual exercises aspects, in his body of work. Nothing says this better than Kurusu arc, his ultimate conclusion of denying nihilism and destructive tendencies in his last moments.

(This manga take on Johan)

So, where is the title character Billy Bat in all of what I just said? Well if you compile of the greater ideals at play in the manga, 3 are pretty much ever recurring aspects in most stories and time periods being told, the conflict between truth and lies, a struggle for authenticity, to discover the real and the fake, usually portrayed through the struggles of the Billy Bat cartoonists, most notably the Chuck Culkin, Kevin Yamanga duo, whose arcs revolve mostly around that. And of course the dream of the travel to the moon, humanity's impossible goal, a distant vision and crazy dream throughout the ages, everyone during the 40s, 60s did not stop thinking about it, even its aftermath has great affect during the 80s. And of course Billy bat itself, the great number of symbols it takes throughout the ages, how it manifests shaping man in the most important decisions of humankind history. How it appears in different forms, mediums and cultures, sometimes incarnating even diametrically different concepts. Those can be seen in most main characters motivations, and usually are somewhat intertwined, finding out the truth usually takes form of wanting to understand Billy, even the journey to the moon takes form of finding his true origin, and identity.

(My favorite portrayal of Hitler in fiction)

When we reach the 21st century, the layout of main threads I explained above starts to get really messy. The turn of century is, even though nothing happened in it, the biggest turning point in history. Let's set thiswith an easy example, on how the search for truth is treated differently in two periods. The society of America during the 80s had as its most defining aspect a proliferation of paranoia and conspiracy theories, people were terrified the government and the media were lying to them and actually demanded to know the truth, regarding facts like Kennedy assassination, or the landing on the moon(not coincidentally exactly the facts that were portrayed during the 60s in the manga). The most meaningful event that shows the change, is having the recording which proved, that the landing on the moon showed to the world by the USA was fake, one of its biggest secrets is now out there on the streets, and appears in a cinematography lesson in the 00s. And guess what happens? No one gives a fuck. The recording that could prove the biggest journey for mankind was "false" is there and nobody gives a shit, not even to compare it to the official footage and find about the fake landing. We find both of the most important threads in the story completely undermined, losing any value in a matter of a few pages in this century.  There are dozens of example of this happening, "fake" versions of the Billy Bat comic are a widespread thing now, people were getting murdered by the hundreds by doing that through the 60s and 80s, now no one cares about the authenticity of what they are reading. Getting to the moon is considered a waste of money that ruined the soviets. 

This change is not limited to those, all other kind of ideals lose their meaning here. And it reflects the changes in power dynamics in this period. Take nationalism, the idea of the nation state as this enormous entity that served and enacted the interests of society. The nations were the grand center of power in the 60s, being the president of the USA( Kennedy) was the big position that could change history. Most other conflicts are instrumentalized by nations (capitalism x communism) the actions of the larger companies like Golden Cola and Billy Bat were usually tied to national interests, they served as propaganda and means to spread the national ideals of America. This submission being pretty much spelled out, by the way man of the Chuck Culkin enterprise, explicitely say to not defy government orders or requests. A good line in the 80s foreshadows the transition about to happen, the soviet union was handling to private sources the creation of equipment for their space exploration project. At the 21st century we really see the difference though, a new organization form rises, the multinational company. The Chuck Culkin enterprises arise from their humble beginning as an entertainment industry, to a gigantic company, which has control of several strategic sectors all throughout the world. Water, oil energy, theme parks, comics, just name the object, these guys have a big share in that market. This under precedent level of power makes them able to command the government of China to a massacre, no reasons asked. 

The birth of this new structure is not so much a complete change in the world of Billy Bat by itself, this manga has dealt with bigger changes with the way societies are run through the story, but a very specific difference of the new structure in place, is. There is a dialogue that showcases perfectly that change, when Timmy Sanada owner and biggest investor on Chuck Culkin enterprises is asked, what does his company stands for, what are the moral values it represents, to which he stands silent. The new symbol of power is empty, there is no greater system of beliefs it represents, nor does it presents any clear vision or future for society. Its lack of vision or morals is ultimately why it never works as the previous metanarratives as a binding force for society. It never manages to get people to internalize its value systems, make them belief this structure stands for freedom, or justice, something that would make them follow it, to motivate them, to give it something to fight for, even against their own self interest. It holds power over people only by offering cheap escapism to them(the theme parks being the personification of that), and providing means for their consumerist behavior.

Where I am going with this should be clear by now. This manga is at its final stages telling a pretty strong argument about post modernism, the school of thinking that abdicates the end of the grandiose metanarratives in modern times. Those bigger conflicts and ideals that would explain all of society in simple terms are no more, reality is just too complex and multifaceted to allow for that, there are just hundreds and hundreds of movements, ideals and clashes between gropes, all struggling for a hegemony. It comes to a point were the individual itself does not fit any metanaratives, he individually has to create the meaning and purpose, that will dictate his actions. This marks a change on Billy Bat himself, it is why he becomes unable of talking to people and influencing history(which not coincidentally coincides with the changes in century), there simply is no space for one man that can alter everything, no single event that can be avoided saving mankind The conflicts being faced now, environmental issues, social inequalities, lots of small racial and religious problems, lack of resources, there is nothing that can be done about those, just by appearing for a few people as Billy Bat always did. The manga have always had a focus on showing the historical development of societies, especially during the 20th century, but there is a different history at play here. One not written by a handful of people, whose names go to history book, but one having billions of people, all easily forgotten, but whose actions will decide the future. Billy Bat even this concept, the biggest story in the existence of mankind, which inspired, motivated and led to humanity’s current development stage is now irrelevant. It is now completely incapable of influencing events, both to doom mankind, or to ensure its survival.

Overall I got to say, this is a pretty grim scenario for humanity's future. It ends the search for purpose, truth and answers of your characters exactly with the non-existence of such. But the way said scenario is being portrayed makes all the difference here, even though individual attempts at saving the world, correcting the issues of humanity are deemed as impossible, the work is in no way encouraging people to simply give up, much to the contrary. In this point, I will have to focus on the individual, how the closest we have to a main character, Kevin Goodman is affected by reality. Kevin from birth was marked as a cartoonist, and had the biggest desire to write Billy Bat comics. It was what he kept practicing endlessly in his youth, but there was a problem, he kept getting rejected because of that,  heard everybody calling his work a fake, a copy of the real deal, published by Chuck Culkin enterprises. This left a huge mark on him, even though Kevin assumes as said company main author, he still refuses to consider himself the real deal, and still turns to Kevin Yamagata as the true author of Billy Bat. Steeping ahead a few years and we have a different issue plaguing Kevin.  Of him just being incapable of writing anymore, the glimpses of the future Billy Bat constantly brought to him are gone, no longer are there those visions that helped him lay out stories. Now he can only bring himself to write normal comics, those cannot give him insight into the future, or help him stop catastrophes, the whole thing just takes airs of pointlessness, Kevin sees no reason to keep doing and just starts looking for a cartoonist, that can still talk to Billy to understand what is going on. Ending put in the same helpless state as everybody else, unable to enact what he thinks would make a real difference, the situation of every individual in the end of the series. This situation of relative powerless far from maddening allows him to understand something, the value of everything else. 

When finding Billy Bat, Kevin is able to finally see the purpose in every little action, his own life as culmination of hundreds of little events, pointless to overall history, but that mean everything to him. It is the small meaning of every little action we take, that he finds out, and is in those that is where he find his motivation to keep writing. His continued life is paradoxically the result of two man who only took action because of how inspired they were by seeing stories. His father managed to stand up to an entire city of racists in the south of the USA, because of the act of reading the Billy Bat comics and Finny saved his life, also because of how much he loved that same comic. He sees in those events the inspiring potential of small intimate stories, the fact of people reading a story, finding it to be geared exactly for them, to portray their hopes, feelings and situation better than themselves could describe them. How potent and life changing those can be as an experience. It is this change from the all encompassing narratives, to trying to create meaning and change, with smaller, deeply personal narratives, the purpose of the storyteller. Far from despair, the situation of the individual in this point in history brings relief to the character. Kevin finally comes to terms with his place in the world, and is finally able to enact on his older almost subconscious desire, of simply telling the stories he always wanted, without getting bogged down with needless worries about the universe. In one that I can only describe as one of the most cathartic character moments in fiction.

(The ending everybody(idiots)kept telling me sucks)

The finale of the series represents a culmination and impressive representation of a lot I said above. Many complained about the last 3 chapters not having the main characters, which was exactly the point, to drive the idea home of the world changing, giving a sense of a narrative, where the actions of everybody not just of the few people we follow, is what really matters. Also it is absurd considering how pretty much every main character has had a complete psychological arc(Duvivier, both Kelvins, Chuck, Timmy), there is no need or point in showing anything else about these guya life's anymore. The war going on the final moments of the manga is an obvious parallel to another big conflict portrayed in the manga, the war for the land of Iga. The difference could not be more striking though, of both events, the war against the Momochi clan was one loaded with ideals, where a man could come to extremes of killing all the closest friends he had in life, and still consider himself justified. What was at stake was so clear in the mind of every warrior, their belief of them actually being justified so strong. In contrast no one has any idea what is going in the war at the end of the manga, every soldier is unsure what they are fighting for, what is this war about and what the heck they are supposed to do. Half the time they cannot even tell apart who are the enemies and allies, what army is each army doing, or what they are supposed to believe. The whole thing is basically a wasteland, which is a obvious reference to the ending of the world scenario(every Urasawa manga needs the end of the world as the stakes), where a kid would stand alone in a land in crumbles. This was the end of history according to Billy. We have two soldiers stepping on landmines that would explode if they moved, and ready to kill each other at any moment and a child in this place. The death of the soldiers would mark the world's end, the kid would end up dying alone in this wasteland just as promised. 

But then something extraordinary happens. Both soldiers see they share Billy Bat symbols on their shirts, and a mutual appreciation of Kevin Goodman comics, which in turn makes them able to identify, see eachother as more than enemies, but as fellow human beings. It also connects them to the child, that even on the verge of death is amazed they have an edition of the final comic, he was never able to read. Both even manage to resolve their issues through this, even finding a common goal in risking their lives in order to save the small children. After they succeed and manage to survive the kid finds himself at awe of something. The history he just witnessed is exactly like the last issue of Billy Bat he reads, everything in it seems to have a purpose, everything on that story seems to be made directly to him, this person, in exactely this situation. This finding wonders him, gives him new goals and motivations on life. This is how the last prophecy of Billy is avoided, through these specifics seemingly pointless messages, that found the public it meant the most to. The world is saved, and in the midst of the dread of the reality there is a sense of hope, humanity will find new meanings, to strive towards and persevere, even in the madness of the modern world.



(destroying youself or the world, aren't both the same?)

If you cannot say by now, Billy Bat is one of my favorite manga. This analysis started from a wish to give better understanding to some of its least appreciated aspects. Billy Bat is a really unique series, in a way the most ambitious work of fiction I have ever seen, attempting to explore in depth a topic as complex and vast as the historical evolution(most notably the ideological) of mankind. It might not have the best plotting(like every Urasawa work)and it does not hold a candle to something like Pluto in terms of character writing(it is hard to find things who do really). But what it achieved as a really is the most fascinating though experiment I have ever seen. In the end,  perhaps what this manga gives me is a sense of hope and purpose to keep writing and explore more glorious aspects of his works in the future.

(This attempt at making something like the Mr. Cynical explaining the ending of monster's video is embarassing, you should watch the real deal)